Under the Arches

quite a few of the guys who spent time there already from my work on the streets. Anyway, how have your studies been going?’

  ‘Well, I spent the whole of the weekend on them and managed to clear every piece of work off my plate.’

  ‘Really? That’s great!’

  Angelina glowed with pride. ‘I was grounded anyway, so there wasn’t exactly anywhere else for me to be.’

  ‘Grounded eh?’ said Zeus raising his eyebrows. ‘How are things between you and your mum now?’

  ‘OK, I think,’ said Angelina. ‘It’s more of an uneasy truce between us. I am banned from seeing you though.’

  ‘Oh. So… how come you made it round here?’

  ‘I… err…’ Angelina stared guiltily at her hands. ‘I’m doing an art project. Your name’s Mandy if anyone asks.’

  ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been called that,’ smiled Zeus.

  At that moment a succession of loud bangs were heard from outside. Judas gave a howl and hid under the table.

  ‘Aha! Guy Fawkes night tonight,’ said Zeus. ‘Fancy going to see some fireworks?’

  ‘That’s half the reason I’m here,’ said Angelina.

  ‘Know any good places to go?’

  ‘There’s a car park up near Old Redding that has a view over towards Harrow. It’s a little way to go but we could catch a bus up there.’

  ‘Sold,’ said Zeus. ‘Lead the way.’

  They left the house and crossed the roundabout to a nearby bus stop where the buses heading for Harrow and Stanmore stopped. They got on a number 258 bus that took them out of town past the green fields of Bushey Heath and on towards Harrow. Inside ten minutes they had gotten off and were walking up the road towards the secluded car park.

  ‘I think this is the place where kids my age or thereabouts come to do drugs and have sex,’ said Angelina.

  ‘Really?’ said Zeus stroking his stubble thoughtfully. ‘Blimey, they do start young nowadays.’ He thought for a bit longer before adding, ‘But I guess things are not so different now. I knew young girls when I lived in Galilee who sold themselves so they could afford to eat. Some parents even sold their children for such purposes.’

  ‘That’s horrible!’ exclaimed Angelina.

  ‘That it is, but often the poor have little choice. Back then sons were assets. They could be put to work and help keep the family going. Daughters were just more mouths to feed.’

  ‘Why didn’t people just stop having babies then?’

  ‘It’s a tricky balance to strike between raising a family who will be able to support you when you grow old and raising one too large to support when you are young. Yet it all still happens to this day. I know of plenty of places where young girls are sent out to work the streets. It is very sad, and it is certainly no way for a child to start out in life.’

  They turned off the dark lane and entered the car park through the arch of twisted metalwork that was supposed to stop large vehicles from coming in. They picked their way between the muddy puddles to the edge of the hilltop and found a free bench seat that looked out over Middlesex. Already they could see fireworks going off in a number of locations away in the distance. The sky was overcast, but it was not too cold and they sat for close to an hour watching various displays start and finish.

  Occasionally they would be interrupted by the crunch of tyres on gravel and the beams of a car’s headlights would sweep across the car park as the driver looked for somewhere to stop. Every now and then the unmistakable smell of marijuana would drift past their noses, but it did not bother Angelina in the slightest. She was spending time with Zeus and that was all that mattered.

  ‘Beautiful, aren’t they?’ said Zeus after a while.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Angelina dreamily.

  ‘I’ve never seen fireworks before.’

  ‘Really? Never?’

  ‘Never ever,’ smiled Zeus.

  ‘Wow. There are so many things I just take for granted. Hey, if you want to delay that whole end of the world apocalypse thing for ten or fifteen minutes you’ll see some great ones for the New Year celebrations.’

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ chuckled Zeus.

  A short while later Angelina had a quick look at her phone to see whether her mum had tried to contact her.

  ‘Hey, I’d best get going,’ she said. ‘It’s nearly nine o’clock. My mum will start to wonder at my sudden interest in art!’

  They wandered back down the dark lane to the main road and waited for a bus to arrive. As it happened they had just missed one and had to wait a further forty minutes as the night deepened and the wind picked up.

  ‘Bloody typical,’ muttered Angelina stamping her feet, for the wind had turned what had been a mild evening into a distinctly chilly one.

  ‘The one time you take a bus…’ said Zeus.

  ‘Exactly! Public transport round here is crap. No wonder everyone uses their cars.’

  ‘There seem to be plenty of trains though.’

  ‘Yeah, but they run to quite a relaxed timescale. Basically, you’ll get one if you’re lucky.’

  Zeus laughed. ‘A bit like Fiji then. Everything runs on Fiji-time.’

  ‘Since when have you been to Fiji?’

  ‘Since April. It was one of the places I visited before settling here.’

  Angelina looked at him, astonished.

  ‘And you chose Watford over Fiji?’

  ‘Had to put my work first I’m afraid. It’s a shame really. Watford-time doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.’

  ‘OK, so where else did you go before choosing this magnificent town?’

  ‘Oh, all over really. I spent quite a lot of time in Africa and the Middle East, as well as visiting Southeast Asia and parts of South America.’

  ‘Bloody hell!’ exclaimed Angelina. ‘That’s more than most people would expect to see in a lifetime. Where was your favourite place?’

  ‘Hmm, I stopped off at the Galapagos Islands on the way over to South America. It was like going back to the world as my Father intended. I also paid a visit to Jerusalem, which despite modernisation has not changed all that much since I was last there. Many of the buildings still stand and there is still this underlying feeling of religious tension and discord among its people. It was quite something to be back there.’

  Finally the bus arrived and they were whisked back into town. At the Arches they parted and Angelina made her way home. She crept into the flat, but was not challenged by either her mother or Derek. Tired but happy, she turned in for the night.

  Angelina awoke the following morning full of energy, and it stayed with her for the rest of the week. She blitzed her classes and received praise from many of her teachers for her progress over the course of the term. These compliments only served to spur her on, and she ended the week on a high, flushed with success and looking forward to spending more time with Zeus.

  She called round on Friday evening straight after school, but found that he was not at home. Undeterred, she headed into town the following morning to find him. Midday came and went without any sign of him. The spot he usually occupied outside Marks and Spencer remained vacant, and the town seemed all the drearier because of it. Angelina paced through the Harlequin Centre, idly looking in shop windows and wondering where he could be. She stopped for a smoothie in Starbucks for a short while before continuing with her search. She walked up to the top of the High Street, as she had on numerous occasions, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘OK,’ she told herself as she walked back down past the parade of shops and bars. ‘This has happened before. Sometimes he doesn’t make it in until mid-afternoon. The chances are he’ll be back in his usual spot when I get back there.’

  She was trying to remain optimistic, but already her mood was beginning to drop and she began to feel that her weekend was becoming meaningless. When she caught sight of a figure outside M&S though, she was lifted for a moment. However, as she got closer she realised that it was not he, but someone else selling th
e Big Issue in his spot. The cheek of it!

  Now she was feeling really blue and had run out of ideas so she trudged home miserably and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on her bed gazing listlessly up at the ceiling, while the melancholic sound of Coldplay drifted from the speakers of her stereo.

  At five o’clock she headed down to the Arches and knocked on Zeus’ door, but there was no light shining from underneath and she got no reply. She returned home feeling even more downcast.

  Where on earth was he? Why did he not mention going away when they had met earlier in the week? She felt lost without him.

  At seven she headed down again but with little hope of him being there. Upon receiving no reply again she berated herself for her sudden dependency on his company, and tried to think of something to take her mind off him. It was not easy. After several fruitless attempts she decided to turn to the only other person she truly trusted - Spongebob. She put on one of her DVDs, and before she knew it Sunday had arrived and she was lying on the sofa with her duvet on top of her.

  With a sudden shock of realisation she remembered that she had a hockey game that morning, and that it was away at a school in St Albans, which meant that she would need to get to her school in time to make the coach.

  She sprang to life and leapt into the shower, which she allowed to run for all of three minutes before getting out again and dressing herself. She stuffed a box of cereal in with her kit and hurried out of the door. It was a grey and dreary morning, with little prospect for any improvement. She trudged down the hill as a perpetual